Elluminate, Inc., the leader in web, audio, video and social networking solutions that support 21^st century teaching, learning, and collaboration, announced today that its Fire and Ice initiative was awarded iNACOL’s Best and Most Innovative Online Learning Practice award, which was announced at the organization’s annual Virtual School Symposium held November 15-17 in Austin, Texas. The award recognizes an individual, team, or program whose innovative practices or policies have ultimately led to student achievement and serve as a model for other K-12 online learning institutions.

"It's an incredible honor to be selected for the iNACOL Best and Most Innovative Online Learning Practice award,” said Stace Wills, Elluminate’s Fire and Ice Global Coordinator. “It validates the tremendous impact that collaboration technologies (such as Elluminate Live!) and school-to-school collaboration projects (like Fire and Ice) can have on development, particularly in rural and remote areas restricted by bandwidth limitations and unstable internet connections.”

Fire and Ice connects K-12 schools in the Northern Hemisphere (ice) with those in mainly rural developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere (fire), engaging them in highly collaborative projects with universal themes like climate change and poverty reduction using enabling technology that includes the Elluminate Live! virtual classroom.

Since its inception in 2006, Fire and Ice has authored highly creative international content and generated unforgettable learning experiences for thousands of students in over 25 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Colombia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“Elluminate is committed to breaking down geographical barriers and providing access to knowledge and education in over 170 countries, including some of the world’s most remote regions,” said Elluminate Founder and CEO Nashir Samanani. “We are now excited to expand the admirable Fire and Ice programs to include innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable training for areas that have traditionally been left out.”

Recent training projects include training healthcare workers in Burkina Faso, West Africa, to combat malaria and providing English as a second language (ESL) training to K-12 students in China and teachers in Colombia.

“The School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Hertfordshire collaborated with nursing personnel in five different locations in Burkina Faso on the management of malaria,” said Senior Lecturer Jay Ragoo. “With Elluminate, distance is no longer a barrier. Students from remote areas can view teaching materials and interact with each other online without traveling, while lecturers can provide education from the comfort of their office in the U.K. The project demonstrated that online education can be delivered with ease and was evaluated very favorably, especially for offering the unique opportunity to have online discussions.”

“I took part in the Burkina Faso malaria training project as both participant and facilitator,” said Kinda Seydou, Healthcare Provider, Samorogouan, Burkina Faso. “As a participant, Elluminate allowed me to acquire knowledge at a distance without travel. As a facilitator, I gained valuable experience with this new technology and found that no matter where in the world information is located, it can be accessible and distributed anywhere, anytime. Health professionals could be part of a global exchange without leaving their country.”

“Courses like the Colombian English language training project enable students who would not ordinarily have the opportunity to practice with native English teachers in a virtual environment,” said Holly Longstroth, Director of Studies, Lancelot School. “The Elluminate Live! virtual classroom is able to connect both the language students and the language teachers from around the world. The students are not only learning a language but are also gaining competence in using the new media that is now part of mainstream communication today.”

About Elluminate, Inc.

Elluminate, Inc. provides proven, best-in-class web, audio, video, and social networking solutions that support 21^st century teaching, learning, and collaboration. The company serves 625 million annual web-collaboration minutes to over 7 million teachers and students located in 170 different countries. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Pleasanton, California, Elluminate is the trusted choice of prominent academic institutions and corporations, including ADP, Apple Computer, California State University, Florida Virtual School, Georgetown University, K12 Inc., London Knowledge Lab, Los Angeles Unified School District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Novell, Queen's University, Royal Veterinary College, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and many more. For more information, visit http://www.elluminate.com.

Elluminate Live! is a registered trademark of Elluminate, Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada.